


Easy as Breathing

by sElkieNight60 (orphan_account)



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Batdad, Batman Bingo, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Cuddles, Dick Grayson is Robin, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, batman bingo 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23964961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/sElkieNight60
Summary: The response he got from Dick was just as visibly nervous, an embarrassed blush flushing high on his cheeks.“I love you too, B.”
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 27
Kudos: 179





	Easy as Breathing

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff. Hugs. That is all.

“B?”

Dick's small voice came up muffled from beneath the blankets.

It was a cold morning, a wintry morning. The air was frigid and neither of them wanted to get out from under Bruce's warm bed-covers. Dick had snuck in last night after a nightmare and Bruce had lulled the boy back to sleep by murmuring little lullabies out of key through a voice thick with sleep. The same lullabies his mother had sung to him as a child. Not a day went by that he didn't miss her. It wasn't lost on him how similar both Dick and his situations were, so he couldn't help but be glad at least he was here for the boy.

“Yes, chum?” He yawned back, running a fond hand through the mop of hair peeking out.

The question returned was not one Bruce expected this earlier in the morning. Or indeed, ever.

“Um,” said Dick, nervously, still hiding beneath the blankets. “Do you… like me?”

So unexpected was the ask that Bruce was thrown for a moment, brain playing the words like a record scratch.

“Do I… like―of course I do, chum. I like you a lot, Dickie. I don't think I've met anyone who _doesn't_ like you! Superman certainly thinks you are downright adorable.”

Two little cerulean, crystal blue eyes peeped up then, eyeing Bruce narrowly and looking for any deceit. The boy seemed to relax after a moment and he brought the bed-sheets down to his chin.

“O–oh,” he replied softly, looking quietly pleased. “Okay.”

Bruce nearly snorted. Covering with a well-timed yawn and another ruffle to Dick's hair, he murmured, “Why do you ask?”

Dick dropped his eyes ashamedly and bit his lower lip, worrying it between his teeth a moment before glancing back to Bruce and apparently deciding he could be trusted to keep safe whatever information he was about to share.

“Well,” he began, each syllable drawn out and barely above a whisper. “Lyon Price from school said I… he said that I was a charity case and I…” Dick stopped and took a breath, holding it in his chest for a moment before expelling the whole lot out in a huff.

Bruce could see how pained the admission left him. There was nothing he wanted to do more in that moment than bundle Dick into his arms and hug him until that notion was utterly dispelled, but he could see the boy had something more to say, so he reluctantly held back and waited for Dick to finish.

“I told him I wasn't,” he continued, beginning to look visibly upset. The sight broke Bruce's heart. “And he said that you probably didn't even like me. He said that you were just… just _using_ me for good press.”

There was no way Bruce could talk in that moment, his voice was too thick with emotion. Everything in him ached for the boy.

The hug was fair game, now.

Dick squeaked from the unexpectedness of two large arms wrapped around him, yanking him towards Bruce's chest with no grace whatsoever, but with the utmost care. Bruce buried his face in Dick's hair and caught the lingering scent of the strawberry scented shampoo that he favoured.

“You shouldn't listen to a thing that this _Lyon Price_ is saying,” he said, spitting out the other boy's name with barely contained vitriol. How dare this boy say things like that to his Dick, he had _no right!_

“He is sorely mistaken,” he carried on, heat in his voice. “I like you very much, Dick. Actually, I―”

Bruce cut himself off, the awkward noise sounding choked and broken off. Was it too soon? Was he really going to tell the kid that he… he _loved_ him? That despite the fact that they'd only been living together for just under a year, he now couldn't imagine his life without Dick in it?

The boy wriggled back, squirming out of Bruce's grip. Pushing back, away from him, Dick looked up with an expression of confusion, tinged only slightly with a hint of fear.

“What, B?” he demanded, tiny voice squeaking. “What were you going to say?”

It took less time that Bruce had imagined it would for nervousness and fear to take over as the dominant expressions upon Dick's face.

The words felt thick and heavy on Bruce's tongue and the smile he forced himself to wear felt like it would crack as easily as porcelain, allowing his own nerves to peek through.

“Bruce!” Dick whined, sounding more hurt than anything else. “What were you going to say?”

Maybe it would be easier to say the words if he wasn't looking at the kid he now considered a son. _A son._ Hell, _Dick was his son._ Who would have thought it? Bruce Wayne, playboy extraordinaire, now father to the most adorable eight-year-old on the planet.

No, he needed to look Dick in the eyes when he said this. Anything else would be the cowards way out.

Bruce adjusted himself and peeled away the porcelain he was so used to wearing whenever his emotions caught him unexpectedly, brushing back Dick's bangs from his forehead.

Did Dick even want to hear this? John and Mary Grayson had barely been in the ground a year and already Bruce had the gall to consider himself a father to their son. Was it right?

It didn't matter, he decided in the end. These were Bruce's true feelings and Dick deserved to feel like his place in Wayne Manor―his place in Bruce's heart, _as sappy as that was―_ was as solid and immovable as the stone that the house was made of. Selina might even say that his heart was made of immovable, unbreakable stone too, but that was obviously impossible because Dick had carved a whole chunk of it out for himself.

“Actually,” he began, feeling his heart-rate spike, nervousness seeping out from every pore. “I was just going to say that I don't just like you, Dick. I love you. Very much.”

It was worth it. For which Bruce was glad. The boy's entire face lit up like Christmas lights. The response he got from Dick was just as visibly nervous, an embarrassed blush flushing high on his cheeks.

“I love you too, B.”


End file.
